Greentarget

Abby Aylman Cohen

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With anti-ESG rhetoric on the rise — and as greenwashing accusations abound — communicating effectively about environmental, social, and governance issues is more challenging than ever.

One piece of the puzzle is the tension between whether a firm is more responsible to its stakeholders or to its shareholders. On one hand, some argue that firms should balance the interests of a company’s stakeholders — employees, customers, and even the environment — against the need to drive bottom line growth. By contrast, those in favor of shareholder primacy assert that firms should prioritize increasing profits above all else.  

Complicating the issue further, the SEC is preparing to release stricter climate impact disclosure requirements for all publicly traded companies. And of course, ESG-related issues will undoubtedly become points of contention and political posturing in the leadup to the 2024 elections.

Given these very real pressures and the risks they present, how should executive leaders at professional services firms respond?

It may be tempting to stay silent. But if you want to be seen as an authority in your industry, you must be someone who is both trusted and heeded. The best way to earn that status is to contribute to a smarter conversation around the issues that matter most to your audience. Here’s what it takes to do that in regard to ESG.

Be Authentic About Your Firm’s Approach to ESG 

It should go without saying that a key part of communicating effectively is to do so from a place of authenticity. After all, one reason organizations come under fire is that their public statements about ESG don’t match up with their organization’s mission, vision, and values — or with their actions. 

To that end, consider your position on ESG through the lens of who you are as a business and what you’re trying to accomplish. It can be helpful to explore questions like:

  • Are we able to make tangible progress on our ESG commitments — and are we reporting on that progress on a regular basis? Even when the numbers or narrative aren’t as positive as we’d like?
  • How might the ESG work we’re doing strengthen and de-risk our business for the long run? Could our ESG commitments contribute to a healthier bottom line?

How Your Commitment to ESG Can Contribute to Business Success

Let’s take a closer look at that last question in particular — and at the false equivalency that’s inherently present in the “stakeholder vs. shareholder” debate. There’s an assumption that deepening your firm’s commitment to ESG will automatically detract from profitability. But the opposite is often true. In fact, making business decisions through the lens of environmental, social, and governance concerns may play an instrumental role in your company’s long-term success.

My colleague Steve DiMattia puts it this way: “Companies with weak ESG performance often find themselves in situations that can lead to a decline in valuation. If a company is cutting corners on safety protocols, harming the environment, or exploiting its workers, there’s a much greater likelihood it’ll eventually be sued, fined, or otherwise penalized, which can negatively impact its stock price.”

Therefore, making an authentic commitment to the causes that matter most to your firm — and talking about those commitments in terms of how they’ll make your company stronger — is an excellent way to frame your ESG narrative.

Embrace Transparent Communication (Even if You Know You’ll Get Backlash)

In a polarized society like ours, there are good reasons to shy away from topics that are known to spark backlash. And there are certainly people who may decry whatever you have to say about ESG. But if your ESG efforts are truly a core part of driving your business forward, communicating transparently is non-negotiable.

The good news is many clients and stakeholders are increasingly seeking ESG-aligned partners. Since they want smart counsel on ESG issues and are looking for partners who walk the talk, it’s only logical to talk about your ESG offerings and commitments with confidence. 

As socially conscious Gen Zers age and become business leaders in their own right, it will become even more paramount for your firm to establish unique positions of authority about ESG. Demonstrating an authentic and transparent position on the issues that matter most to these emerging stakeholders is an essential part of building trust and winning their future business. 

That doesn’t mean you have to talk about ESG-related issues all the time. Nor do you have to publish an official CSR (corporate social responsibility) report each and every year. Rather, look for naturally recurring opportunities to shine light on the progress you’ve made toward your ESG goals. Let your audience know what’s gone well and what steps you still need to take to get where you want to go. And if you’re a publicly traded company, tell a good and true story about how ESG affects your earnings. 

Still uncertain about whether it’s wise to communicate openly and transparently about your firm’s ESG efforts? Perhaps this will assuage your fears. According to The Financial Times, anti-ESG funds are failing to attract investors and assets. Polls show voters aren’t swayed by attacks on sustainable investing options, either. These articles illustrate that, in many cases, the anti-ESG bark is far worse than its bite.

Tailor Your ESG Messaging to Your Primary Stakeholders

Although you’ll need to be mindful of crafting your ESG communications in ways that align with regulatory demands, it’s also important to remember that regulators are not your primary audience. Your clients and employees are. 

So rather than worry about coming under fire for communicating about ESG, consider who your audience is and what they care about. What do they need to hear from you? What messages will resonate with them? And how can you tell your ESG story in a way that furthers their commitment to and enthusiasm for your firm? 

For example, we recently worked with a law firm to create a communications platform to reach key stakeholders at a time when the firm was under enormous pressure from special interest groups and anti-ESG lawmakers to abandon its ESG endeavors. This platform enabled the firm to amplify the ESG-related counsel it offers clients and provide insight into how it helps firms navigate the very issues and challenges it was also facing.

Reaching your audience with the messages that matter to them should be the primary goal of all your executive communications strategies.

Don’t Be Afraid To Speak Out About the Issues That Matter to Your Firm

It takes courage to speak your firm’s truth in the face of almost certain criticism and backlash. And since anything you do say is subject to fiscal, regulatory, and political scrutiny, it’s absolutely essential to communicate your messages judiciously and effectively. 

Greentarget can help.

Our consultants know how to objectively assess whether or not your ESG efforts are truly an authentic representation of your firm’s values and actions. We can help you craft succinct and precise messages about why you’re doing what you’re doing. And we’d love to work with you to develop unique perspectives and positions of authority that translate into added value for your clients and other priority stakeholders.

So when you’re ready to cut through the ESG-related noise and advance a smarter, more thoughtful narrative, let’s talk.

About the Executive Positioning Practice

Exemplifying Greentarget’s commitment to being a trusted advisor to clients, Greentarget’s Executive Positioning team provides c-suite executives (managing partners, CEOs, executive committees, and boards) with insights to anticipate, understand and respond to important global and social developments, analyzing key issues that can impact reputation and compel leaders to communicate.

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Your high net worth clients can take their assets anywhere at any time. To attract and retain their business, your firm needs to be positioned to win. 

As an executive in this highly competitive and fragmented landscape, you know there are four essential ingredients to attract registered investment advisors (RIAs) and their clients to your platform:

  • Access to investment alternatives that will yield higher returns
  • High-touch client service 
  • Banking services to complement wealth management services
  • Attention from a broader team who can take over the book of business if and when the lead RIA leaves or retires

But since excellent service and performance are mere table stakes, these four elements might not be enough to achieve and maintain a winning standard. Your wealth managers must offer a fifth fundamental ingredient: authority.

Greentarget is a PR firm serving clients in a variety of professional services industries. As such, we regularly talk to wealth managers about the challenges they’re facing. Here’s a look at what we’ve heard from them — and why we think carving out unique positions of authority is key to transforming your industry challenges into growth opportunities.

Challenge 1: Investor Demographics Are Shifting 

Now more than ever, wealth managers play a personal role in their clients’ lives. As people live longer, face the effects of long-term inflation on their assets’ purchasing power, and experience increasingly fragmented family lives, it’s common for RIAs to become confidantes and friends to the clients they serve. 

In light of this, wealth managers also have the opportunity to become trusted authorities on the issues that matter most to their changing clientele. 

What do we mean by the word authority? As we explain in our Manifesto, authority is different from thought leadership. Whereas thought leaders share ideas, authorities know. They draw on their distinct perspective and proven experience — and then deliver clear, succinct insights that are supported by fact, narrative, and cutting-edge data. 

How could your wealth managers become true authorities who are not just heard, but also heeded and implicitly trusted by clients? Here are a few examples of ways your RIAs could make their mark:

  • Put resources in place to support older women and protect them from manipulation and abuse.
  • Help clients of all ages plan for their post-retirement lives, including navigating the nuances of moving to a continuing care retirement community or otherwise making provisions for future long-term care.
  • Offer business succession planning for family-owned businesses to transfer ownership from one generation to another.
  • Create an avenue to serve HENRYs (high earners, not rich yet) and help them grow their wealth from the ground up.

The world is changing fast. Women in particular are an underserved demographic who need advice specific to their circumstances. And if your firm is not taking steps to carve out unique points of view on the issues that matter to your changing clientele, someone else will. 

Challenge 2: Emerging Technologies Like ChatGPT Threaten Disruption

At first glance, the rise of emerging technologies — especially generative AI — presents a formidable challenge to the wealth management industry. But while it’s true that AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can develop a diversified portfolio in seconds, many clients are reluctant to rely solely on AI-generated recommendations. 

This isn’t surprising when you consider the demographic shifts we’ve discussed already. Clients — especially older audiences — don’t want to be served by an algorithm. They want a personalized touch that only humans can provide, particularly when it comes to managing their wealth. So as AI continues to evolve, wealth managers must strike a delicate balance between automation and personalized service to meet sky-high expectations while remaining efficient and competitive.

In addition to ChatGPT, the proliferation of robo advisors and the digitization of assets further complicates the wealth management landscape. Robo advisors offer a low-cost alternative to traditional wealth management, making it more challenging for human advisors to compete. The digitization of assets, on the other hand, introduces complexities related to security, compliance, and data management. Wealth managers must adapt to these digital advancements by incorporating them into their service offerings, all while ensuring that clients’ assets remain safe and that their financial goals are met.

So how can your wealth managers stay ahead of the technology-related curve? Again, they must become authorities on these issues and solidify a unique point of view that differentiates them from all the other voices clamoring for attention. 

A forward-looking, creative POV on emerging technology and its role in asset management can drive interest and goodwill among current and potential clients.

Challenge 3: Economic and Security Concerns Have Investors on High Alert

As you well know, investors continue to be highly concerned about their assets as a result of the extended period of economic uncertainty we’re all experiencing. Even so, this macro-level financial insecurity and banking industry turmoil comes with an opportunity. 

While big-name brands like Wells Fargo and FTX continue to suffer from the far-flung ramifications of serious reputational crises, your financial services firm has the chance to build a highly respected and trusted reputation. 

To build your growing firm’s brand, your wealth managers must demonstrate:

  • Integrity. Can clients trust that your firm will do the right thing at all times?
  • Stability. Especially in the midst of industry consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, do your clients know your firm is stable? 
  • Security. In an age of cybersecurity attacks, phishing schemes, and scams galore, is your asset custody platform strong and impenetrable? 
  • High-touch service. Since big-name wealth management firms struggle to offer proactive, intentional communication, are there ways you can position your firm to stand out by offering ultra-personalized, excellent service?

You may not be able to build the kind of solid, unimpeachable brand reputation JP Morgan enjoys overnight. But with time and intentional, proven PR strategies, you can create a name for your firm that becomes synonymous with integrity and excellence.  

Invest in PR to Position Your Wealth Management Firm for Success 

Trust is the currency on which your firm is built. So when it comes to staying ahead of the competition in an industry like yours, positioning your wealth managers as trusted authorities becomes its own kind of ROI.

But in your fast-moving industry, it can already feel challenging to keep up with the daily demands of managing the assets of high-net-worth clients. Establishing and articulating unique positions of authority via owned media and earned media channels is unlikely to rise to the top of your wealth managers’ priority lists — unless they have expert help. 


That’s where Greentarget comes in. We’ve worked with hundreds of professional services firms to build their brand, hone authoritative positions, and overcome their particular industry challenges. We’d love to help you, too. So let’s talk.

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According to a study by LinkedIn and Coalition Greenwich, institutional investors research potential partnerships and investment managers by looking for useful, authoritative content online — particularly on LinkedIn. In fact, 79% of institutional investors use LinkedIn weekly, and 90% take action at least once a month after viewing a wealth manager’s content. 

Are you creating the kind of content these potential clients and strategic partners are looking for?

These findings came as no surprise to us. That’s because Greentarget collaborates with the Zeughauser Group to produce the annual State of Digital and Content Marketing Report, which tracks the content consumption and decision-making habits of general counsel and C-suite executives. And though our research hasn’t touched directly on the financial services sector, our findings are in line with what LinkedIn/Coalition Greenwich’s Investing in the Digital Age report shows. 

Put simply, well-educated professionals — regardless of industry — behave similarly online and are attracted to the same types of content. And because we know what those buyers are searching for, we can help you tell your institutional story in a way that will secure new business and drive your firm’s growth. 

3 Insights Into How Institutional Investors Consume Content

So what does the research say about the types of content your audience is hungry for? 

When it comes to information that decision-makers value most, our survey of 200 executives found that the clients of professional services firms still look to traditional media and other trusted, editorial-filtered sources. But the pandemic also accelerated the digital shift =, as COVID-19 disrupted in-person networking events and pushed more interactions online. 

We took a side-by-side look at the LinkedIn/Greenwich report and our 2022 State of Digital Report and uncovered three commonalities that should inform your owned media marketing strategy.

1. LinkedIn Is a Highly Trusted Source of Content 

Many professional services firms allocate the majority of their PR and communication spend on working to obtain earned media coverage. And that’s undoubtedly important — 79% percent of the executives we surveyed for the State of Digital Report said traditional media is still the information source they value most. 

But LinkedIn wasn’t far behind, with 69% of participants saying they value the platform highly. In fact, LinkedIn’s popularity has surged among  executive decision-makers.. Leaders are also increasingly visiting websites and blogs and maintaining heightened interest in webinars and other types of virtual events, a trend many expect to continue.

That means your firm as a whole and your individual wealth managers in particular should be active on LinkedIn while also maintaining an intentional role in authoring content for your firm’s blog, website, and other owned media channels. Sharing self-published content that highlights your expertise and unique positions of authority plays a critical role in reaching institutional investors and compelling them toward action. 

2. Personalization and Relevance Are Essential To Cut Through the Digital Noise 

Although institutional investors respect LinkedIn over other social media platforms, that doesn’t mean they value every piece of content equally. They want deep subject matter education from experts who provide timely, personalized insights.

Institutional investors decide which asset managers’ content to consume based on the following factors:

  • Personalization. Investors and executives prefer to read content written by an individual rather than a company or organization.
  • Novelty. Your subject matter experts should add to the conversations that matter to your audience, not merely repeat what everyone already knows. Often, the smaller and narrower the angle, the greater the potential to find something novel to say. 
  • Relevance. C-level executives want research that is in-depth in scope and technical in nature. But an interesting perspective isn’t enough. It should also provide actionable advice leaders can put into practice.
  • Timely topics. Although providing evergreen advice is important, institutional investors and C-suite executives want expert authorities to provide their unique insights on the topics that matter most in the world. In fact, 67% of investors reported they chose content based on a news-driven topic. 
  • Length. When it comes to establishing authority, longer content wins out over short items, and articles are the preferred content type.

Post-pandemic, 23% of investors report being willing to spend 30 minutes or more to consume a piece of content if it’s useful and relevant to them — up from just 9% in 2018. Fifty-seven percent will spend between 15 and 30 minutes. And when it comes to absorbing complex subject matter, investors prefer digital formats. 

3. Your Firm’s Authority Is The Ultimate Factor Driving Buying Decisions

Building your firm’s overall brand — or, in our lexicon, developing your ultimate position as an authority — is the most critical factor in attracting institutional investors and driving growth. Investors look at where content comes from — and who authored it — when deciding what to act on.

That’s why building your unique positions of authority through a strategic owned media program is so important. Showcasing your team’s credentials and regularly publishing your experts’ best thinking is a vital part of convincing executives and investors to engage your firm. 

But remember: the more your experts spark conversation and invite feedback — especially on platforms like LinkedIn — the better. That’s because true authorities don’t just disseminate their expertise. They skillfully participate in uncontrolled situations and allow others to iterate on their ideas. This involves soliciting a response, considering opposing points of view, and being willing to adapt and pivot a viewpoint when needed. 

Let’s Create a Smarter Content Strategy at Your Financial Services Firm

Even in a cluttered digital landscape, reaching the institutional investors your firm wants to attract is possible. But to do so, you need a savvy owned media and content strategy that uncovers and showcases your experts’ unique points of view. 

Greentarget has been studying the digital content landscape for more than a decade. We know what types of content your audience wants to consume. But even better, we know how to work with your team to create that content and publish or share it in all the right places. 
We’d love to help your asset management firm skillfully blend your knowledge with the accuracy and storytelling methods of traditional journalism. Together, we can match your business goals with your audience’s needs. So when you’re ready to start directing a smarter conversation at your firm, let’s talk.

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This past May, Ernst & Young announced that Project Everest, the firm’s plan to split its auditing and consulting operations, was officially dead. “People familiar with the matter” had been leaking details of infighting and pushback to The Wall Street Journal as early as March. And as the plan circled the drain, $600 million in sunk costs and 3,000 jobs went down with it.

Leaks happen during transformational moments and other periods of disquiet within a partnership, and they can be destabilizing for a leadership team. It doesn’t really matter why people leak information – whether it’s to blow the whistle, toot their own horn, exert influence over a firm’s direction, or grind an ax – damage may be done regardless. 

Leaks can harm your firm’s reputation, sow doubt among key stakeholders, and complicate lucrative, transformative plans, from mergers to operational overhauls. So if your firm’s sensitive information makes its way to the press, don’t shrug it off as a mere annoyance. Treat the event like the PR crisis it is. 

As we’ve advised our own clients who’ve been victims of leaks, you can’t unring this bell. But you can mitigate and lessen the impact of unwanted exposure by responding in the following ways.  

1. Talk to the Reporter When Approached About a Leak

When reporters reach out to ask your firm for a comment about something they’ve been told, it’s only natural to want to respond with a curt “no comment.” That’s a mistake.

True, you may not be able to answer specific questions about rumors and speculation, especially if you’re in confidential M&A talks. And any on-the-record response should be carefully calibrated to address the concerns of stakeholders and avoid provoking additional questions. 

But you can talk to reporters “on background” to provide additional information that allows them to contextualize what they’ve heard and write more nuanced, balanced pieces. 

Understanding “On Background” Conversations

“Background” can be a fuzzy concept. Everyone who’s seen All the President’s Men thinks they know what it means, but news outlets rarely treat such conversations exactly the same way. So before you dive in, make sure you and the reporter are on the same page as to what you’re agreeing to, and to whom the information you provide may be attributed.

Here’s how The New York Times describes “on background” and “on deep background,” and the guardrails you should establish with a reporter before the conversation starts: 

Can a source be quoted by name? Can we use the information if we leave out the name? Can we at least describe the source’s job?…

Generally, “on background” is understood to mean that the information can be published, but only under conditions agreed upon with the source… A reporter might negotiate with those sources to at least describe their jobs in broad strokes, to give a reader proper context: “a federal worker who shared the material,” “a government official with access to the information.” 

Deep background… is where establishing ground rules is particularly important, since many journalists and sources have competing definitions. For some, there is no practical distinction between “background” and “deep background”… Others interpret it to mean that information can be used only for the reporter’s context and understanding, with no attribution of any kind.

If you agree to provide background for a story, be crystal clear about what you mean and confirm whether or not the information you provide can be attributed to you in any way, and if not to you directly, then how the attribution should be framed..

The Value of “On Background” Conversations

Clients we’ve helped go on background are generally happier with the outcome of unexpected press coverage than clients who refrain from speaking to reporters at all. Talking to a reporter on background enables you to contextualize a leak and can help the reporter see the situation more completely. Credible journalists want to provide accurate, well-rounded information, so going on background can alter the way they frame the report.

True, you’re unlikely to ever be entirely happy with the press coverage your firm receives as a result of a leak. But even so, the only way to influence the outcome is to talk to the reporter as much as you reasonably can. Doing so also helps build relationships with the press – if the news is consequential enough, this may not be the last story they write on the subject.

2. Anticipate the External Impact of Internal Messages

When you need to communicate with internal stakeholders about difficult PR situations, craft your internal messages as if they’re public statements 

You should always be as transparent and upfront with employees as is prudent. That’s true on any given day, and it’s true in times of crisis. Even so, it’s important to bear in mind that every memo, email, text message, and video you share also has the potential to be leaked. 

Partners and employees can easily share internal communications with a journalist or take matters into their own hands and share them with sites like Above the Law, Fishbowl, and Reddit. Parse your messages carefully to avoid adding fodder to an already tricky situation. 

3. Consider Multiple Stakeholders

Leaked information always has a ripple effect. So as soon as you can, think about who will be impacted by the story once it hits — and do what you can to get ahead of it. 
The faster you can release a statement to those in your audience likely to be impacted by press reports on previously confidential information, the better. Why? It’s always preferable for your stakeholders to hear news from you before they hear it elsewhere. Breaking the news first allows you to explain the matter, paint a more complete picture, and provide context that a reporter may or may not include. 

The Right Way to Communicate With Stakeholders in a PR Crisis

Be clear, direct, and transparent – in internal and external communications alike. Don’t hide behind vague corporate language. It’s ok to correct misinformation and falsehoods, but you should also take responsibility if your firm misstepped in any way.

Give careful thought to:

  • How you communicate. Which channel will allow you to reach your various stakeholder groups most effectively? Should you call high-value clients personally? Hold a town hall meeting for employees? Send a mass email to your larger client list?
  • Who delivers the message. Who should be the spokesperson to each stakeholder group? Your CEO may not be the right person for every member of your audience. Depending on the situation, it might be wise to select another senior leader, a mid-level manager, or even a trusted community partner to make your case with various groups and help your firm retain trust. 
  • When you communicate. If it’s not possible to get ahead of the story, be sure to follow it up in a timely manner. Let your stakeholders know that you’re aware of the press coverage and offer as much information as you can about your firm’s position.

Remember: The world is not your audience. Your employees, clients, business partners, and in some cases your peers, industry and affinity groups are the people you need to worry about. Provide the information they need to understand what is happening. And monitor your firm’s two-way communication channels for stakeholder feedback so you can respond to questions and concerns as they arise.

An Ounce of Prevention: Take Steps to Strengthen Your Firm’s Culture 

Information leaks can be professionally damaging and personally disheartening for leaders in professional service firms. In the heat of the moment, the only thing you can do is respond to the crisis at hand. 

Stepping back, it is worth contemplating the cypherpunk construct that information wants to be free. Considering the human compulsion to share information with one another sociably, the rationalization humans are capable of when told they can’t do something, like share information, and the rapid decentralization of organizational design, executives may be forgiven for believing that leaks are an inevitability. If secrecy is mission critical to your organization, communication prohibitions may be put in place and steps taken to strengthen compliance and reduce the likelihood of employee backlash and resistance. (for more, see Sussman, Harvard Business Review, 2008.) 

Short of that, it’s also worth contemplating that firms with positive, transparent, and collaborative cultures tend to experience fewer leaks than those operating in a top-down, opaque fashion. So once your PR crisis is over, it can be helpful to identify the steps you can take to foster a healthier internal climate. These should include reshaping how you communicate going forward. Clear, consistent and appropriate internal messaging about leadership aims and decisions can foster an atmosphere of trust that will limit future leaks.

At the end of the day, protecting your firm’s reputation requires you to be both reactive and proactive. Respond swiftly when leaks happen. Talk to the reporter, and talk to your stakeholders. But along the way, don’t neglect the long-term work of creating an environment where partners and employees have zero desire to divulge sensitive information in the first place.

No matter what you’re facing, Greentarget would love to help you position your firm for immediate and long-term success. So let’s talk.

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In the crowded financial services sector, it can be hard to set your firm apart. After all, there are many firms that offer investment strategies in the major asset classes, like large cap equity, high yield bonds, global equity or even emerging markets – all of which can be difficult to distinguish from one another.

To stand out in this homogenous market, performance and product attributes aren’t enough. You need to sell your firm’s talent and ideas. In other words: Don’t sell your product, sell your people.

Your team’s insights, expertise, and points of view can help you thrive in a competitive landscape and volatile times. But you can’t just blast out content from your fund manager or chief economist and expect it to make a splash. To rise above the noise, you’ve got to position your team members as authorities who draw on deep experience to offer unique (and useful) insights.  

Here are three best practices to get started.

1. Develop Useful Insights That Meet Your Audience’s Needs

As we’ve said before too many thought leaders get hung up on what they want to say without stopping to consider what their audience wants to hear. So to create messages that keep your audience at the forefront, you first need to define — and seek to meet — their needs. To get started, ask yourself and your team:

  • Who is our ideal client?
  • What problems are they trying to solve? (e.g., What do they not understand about the implications of their investment decisions? How can they be more strategic with their assets?)
  • For the issues you’ve identified, what content already exists on those topics? How credible is it?
  • What viewpoint can your organization share to not only enter that conversation, but add to it meaningfully?

Ultimately, the goal here is to be useful by offering a fresh perspective (something your audience hasn’t heard before that makes them think) and/or practical guidance (that they might not be able to get anywhere else). As our research shows, utility attracts your audience more than any other characteristic. 

That’s what RBC Global Asset Management did to set themselves apart in the increasingly crowded ESG space. Five years ago, when data on how many investors were deploying ESG strategies – and where and how they were doing so – was less common, they identified the need and surveyed their clients, prospects, consultants and advisers to provide this data to the market. They’ve been doing the survey every year since.

To amplify this effort, we work with their team of experts to secure media opportunities on a wide array of ESG issues, as well as share their expertise and approach through owned content, such as blogs and podcasts. For the 2020 research alone, RBC GAM garnered more than 40 media placements, including those in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. Social media posts received more than 225,000 impressions and the report was downloaded 5,500 times from the survey microsite.

2. Say Something Meaningful (Even if it’s a Little Provocative)

If you really want to differentiate yourself and provide utility, it’s essential to say something meaningful – something that will inspire your audience to action.

Too many firms play it safe and hedge their bets. They give noncommittal advice and leave their clients to wade through endless possibilities. By contrast, true authorities draw a line in the sand, make their case, and back up their position with well-supported rationale. 

Let’s think back to our ESG example. There’s a wealth of ESG data out there — and many ways to approach ESG investing. To win over your audience, you need to say something meaningful that will make an investor choose your strategy. You may believe that investing in fossil fuel companies is an essential step towards developing more sustainable solutions. Or you may believe the opposite, that a sustainable fund should never include gas and oil exposure. 

Whatever it is, you need a position. And you need to communicate something that matters — even if it’s conceivably provocative. You must show your audience you’re thinking about challenging issues and prove you have the brainpower to guide investors in smart directions.

3. Be Ready to Engage Different Points of View

When you have the courage to say something meaningful, it stands to reason that someone will disagree. That’s a good thing. There are few better ways of honing your authority position than participating skillfully in the marketplace of ideas.

A researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science — Iain Begg — wrote that public engagement is a great way for technical experts to stay sharp because it forces them to render complicated, theoretical or abstract ideas in practice, concrete and accessible terms. He put it this way: “The challenge of having to explain scientific propositions in terms that informed, non-specialist audiences can grasp, forces academics to think about how those outside academia will view the research.” Making the theoretical and abstract accessible also builds trust and credibility. 

The bottom line? Enter boldly into the marketplace of ideas. And beyond that, understand the value of inviting others to interact with and iterate on your own. Be prepared to listen and consider alternate points of view along the way. The work of refining your firm’s position of authority is never done, and there is plenty of wisdom to learn from others as you do this important work.

Differentiation Starts with Authority 

Setting your financial services firm apart from your competitors is challenging — but it’s not impossible. The key to doing it well is to establish your firm’s authority and promote unique points of view. This requires you to identify your audience’s needs, deliver useful information that solves their problems, say something meaningful to earn their respect, and engage skillfully with those who disagree. 

We can help you identify and develop the points of view that will establish you as the authority you are. Just reach out — we’d love to explore how we can help direct a smarter conversation at your firm.

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